Ari. Hark! now I hear them,-- Ding-dong, bell.
Fer. The ditty does remember my drown'd father.
This is no mortal business, nor no sound

That the earth owes. I hear it now above me.
Pros. The fringéd curtains of thine eye advance
And say what thou seest yond.

Mir.
What is 't? a spirit?
Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir,

It carries a brave form. But 't is a spirit.

410

Pros. No, wench; it eats and sleeps and hath such senses

As we have, such. This gallant which thou seest

Was in the wreck; and, but he's something stain'd

With grief that's beauty's canker, thou mightst call him
A goodly person: he hath lost his fellows

And strays about to find 'em.

Mir.

I might call him

A thing divine, for nothing natural
I ever saw so noble.

Pros. [Aside] It goes on, I see,

As my soul prompts it. Spirit, fine spirit! I'll free thee
Within two days for this.

Fer.

Most sure, the goddess

On whom these airs attend! Vouchsafe my prayer
May know if you remain upon this island;
And that you will some good instruction give
How I may bear me here: my prime request,
Which I do last pronounce, is, O you wonder!
If you be maid or no?

Mir.

But certainly a maid.
Fer.

No wonder, sir;

My language! heavens!
I am the best of them that speak this speech,
Were I but where 't is spoken.

Pros.
How? the best?
What wert thou, if the King of Naples heard thee?
Fer. A single thing, as I am now, that wonders
To hear thee speak of Naples. He does hear me ;
And that he does I weep: myself am Naples,
Who with mine eyes, never since at ebb, beheld
The king my father wreck'd.

Alack, for mercy!

Mir.
Fer. Yes, faith, and all his lords; the Duke of Milan
And his brave son being twain.

Pros.

[Aside] The Duke of Milan

And his more braver daughter could control thee,

420

430

If now 't were fit to do't.
They have changed eyes.
I'll set thee free for this.

At the first sight
Delicate Ariel,

[To Fer.] A word, good sir;

I fear you have done yourself some wrong: a word.
Mir. Why speaks my father so ungently? This
Is the third man that e'er I saw, the first

That e'er I sigh'd for pity move my father
To be inclined my way!

And your affection not gone forth, I'll make you
The queen of Naples.

Pros.

Soft, sir! one word more.

440

[Aside] They are both in either's powers; but this swift

business

I must uneasy make, lest too light winning

450

Make the prize light. [To Fer.] One word more: I charge

thee.

That thou attend me: thou dost here usurp

The name thou owest not; and hast put thyself

Upon this island as a spy, to win it

From me, the lord on 't.

Fer.

No, as I am a man.

Mir. There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple: If the ill spirit have so fair a house,

Good things will strive to dwell with 't.

Pros.

Follow me.

Speak not you for him; he's a traitor. Come;
I'll manacle thy neck and feet together:
Sea-water shalt thou drink; thy food shall be
The fresh-brook mussels, wither'd roots and husks
Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow.

Fer.

I will resist such entertainment till

Mine enemy has more power.

Mir.

No;

460

[Draws, and is charmed from moving. O dear father,

Make not too rash a trial of him, for

He's gentle and not fearful.

Pros.

What? I say,

My foot my tutor! Put thy sword up, traitor;

Who makest a show but darest not strike, thy conscience

Is so possess'd with guilt: come from thy ward,

For I can here disarm thee with this stick

And make thy weapon drop.

470

Mir

Beseech you, father.

Pros. Hence! hang not on my garments.

Mir.

I'll be his surety.

Pros.
Silence! one word more
Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee.
An advocate for an impostor! hush!

Sir, have pity;

What!

Thou think'st there is no more such shapes as he,
Having seen but him and Caliban: foolish wench!
To the most of men this is a Caliban

And they to him are angels.

Mir.

My affections

Are then most humble; I have no ambition

To see a goodlier man.

Pros.
Thy nerves are in their infancy again

Come on; obey:

So they are;

And have no vigour in them.

Fer.
My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.
My father's loss, the weakness which I feel,

The wreck of all my friends, nor this man's threats,
To whom I am subdued, are but light to me,
Might I but through my prison once a day
Behold this maid: all corners else o' the earth
Let liberty make use of; space enough
Have I in such a prison.

Pros.
[Aside] It works. [To Fer.] Come on.
Thou hast done well, fine Ariel! [To Fer.] Follow me.
[To Ari.] Hark what thou else shalt do me.

Mir.

My father's of a better nature, sir,

480

490

Be of comfort;

Than he appears by speech: this is unwonted
Which now came from him.

Pros.

Thou shalt be as free

As mountain winds: but then exactly do

All points of my command.

Ari.

To the syllable.

Pros. Come, follow.

Speak not for him.

[Exeunt. 500

ACT II.

SCENE I. Another part of the island.

Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, and others.

Gon. Beseech you, sir, be merry; you have cause, So have we all, of joy; for our escape

Is much beyond our loss. Our hint of woe

Is common; every day some sailor's wife,

The masters of some merchant and the merchant
Have just our theme of woe; but for the miracle,
I mean our preservation, few in millions
Can speak like us: then wisely, good sir, weigh
Our sorrow with our comfort.

Alon.

Prithee, peace.

Seb. He receives comfort like cold porridge.

Ant. The visitor will not give him o'er so.

ΙΟ

Seb. Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit; by and

by it will strike.

Gon. Sir,-

Seb. One; tell.

Gon. When every grief is entertain'd that's offer'd, Comes to the entertainer

Seb. A dollar.

Gon. Dolour comes to him, indeed; you have spoken truer than you purposed.

Seb. You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should. Gon. Therefore, my lord,—

Ant. Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!

Alon. I prithee, spare.

Gon. Well, I have done: but yet,—

Seb. He will be talking.

20

Ant. Which, of he or Adrian, for a good wager, first begins

to crow?

Seb. The old cock.

Ant. The cockerel.

Seb. Done. The wager?

Ant. A laughter.

Seb. A match!

Adr. Though this island seem to be desert,—

Seb. Ha, ha, ha! So, you're paid.

Adr. Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible,—
Seb. Yet,-

(M 344)

D

30

Adr. Yet,

Ant. He could not miss 't.

Adr. It must needs be of subtle, tender and delicate tem

perance.

Ant. Temperance was a delicate wench.

Seb. Ay, and a subtle; as he most learnedly delivered.

Adr. The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.

Seb. As if it had lungs and rotten ones.

Ant. Or as 't were perfumed by a fen.

Gon. Here is everything advantageous to life.

Ant. True; save means to live.

Seb. Of that there's none, or little.

41

Gon. How lush and lusty the grass looks! how green! 50 Ant. The ground indeed is tawny.

Seb. With an eye of green in 't.

Ant. He misses not much.

Seb. No; he doth but mistake the truth totally.

Gon. But the rarity of it is,—which is indeed almost beyond credit,

Seb. As many vouched rarities are.

Gon. That our garments, being, as they were, drenched in the sea, hold notwithstanding their freshness and glosses, being rather new-dyed than stained with salt water.

60

Ant. If but one of his pockets could speak, would it not say he lies?

Seb. Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report.

Gon. Methinks our garments are now as fresh as when we put them on first in Afric, at the marriage of the king's fair daughter Claribel to the King of Tunis.

Seb. 'T was a sweet marriage, and we prosper well in our

return.

Adr. Tunis was never graced before with such a paragon to their queen.

Gon. Not since widow Dido's time.

70

Ant. Widow! a pox o' that! How came that widow in? widow Dido!

Seb. What if he had said 'widower Æneas' too? Good Lord, how you take it!

Adr. 'Widow Dido' said you? you make me study of that; she was of Carthage, not of Tunis.

Gon. This Tunis, sir, was Carthage.

Adr. Carthage?

Gon. I assure you, Carthage.

80

Seb. His word is more than the miraculous harp; he hath raised the wall and houses too.